LONDON – “The Favourite,” a film by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, won seven Bafta at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards on Sunday, but “Roma,” the ode to his childhood by Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron, won the main prize, for Best Film.

“Roma” also won Best Foreign Language Film, Best Direction and Best Cinematography, the latter two for Cuaron, who also wrote the script for the film.

The award-winning film, which this evening continued its good run in this season of awards that will culminate in the Hollywood Oscars where it’s in competition for 10 statues, tells the story of Cuaron’s childhood.

Through the eyes of the woman who took care of him and his siblings as a child, brought to life by debutante Yalitza Aparicio, the director paints a portrait of Mexico in the 1970s and an ode to his childhood memories.

Filmed in black and white, in Spanish and Mixtec, with its actors in their overwhelming majority debutants, and produced by an audiovisual platform, Netflix, which at first did not even plan to premiere it in cinemas.

But the success of the film at its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where it won an indisputable Golden Lion, marked the beginning of a successful international career.

Four Bafta prizes for “Roma” out of the seven it was nominated for, as opposed to seven won by “The Favourite” out of the 12 it was nominated for.

“The Favourite” triumphed in the categories of Best Actress (Olivia Colman), Best Supporting Actress (Rachel Weisz), Best Makeup and Hairdresser, Best Production Design, Best British Film, Best Original Screenplay and Best Costume Design.

Besides these two big winners of the night, Freddie Mercury’s biopic, “Bohemian Rhapsody” took two of the prized gold masks.

Rami Malek came on stage to pick up the Best Actor Award and the movie by director Bryan Singer – who has recently been accused of sexual assault and was dismissed from the shoot before it ended – also won the Best Sound Award.

“A Star is Born” won the best original music award, which was collected by Bradley Cooper, author of the soundtrack along with an absent Lady Gaga and Lukas Nelson.

The prize for Best Editing went to “Vice,” while “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” won the Bafta for Best Animated Film; “Free Solo” for Best Documentary; “73 Cows” for Best British short film, and “Roughhouse” for best British animated short film.

The one movie that had to leave empty-handed despite having seven nominations was “First Man” by Damien Chazelle.

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